Even in the off-season, racing is firmly on two-time World Champion, Max Verstappen’s, mind. While he and his team, Team Redline, were participating in the Virtual Le Mans Series, they were disconnected several times causing Verstappen to lose the lead and eventually the race. As a result, Verstappen called the organisers “incompetence” and labelled the event a “clown show.”
While Verstappen was in the lead, his screen went black after connection issues forced him out of the game and dropping down to 17th. Connection issues persisted so Verstappen and team decided withdraw.
Speaking on Twitch, a furious Verstappen said, “They [the organisers] can’t even control their own game. This is already the third time this has happened to me, getting kicked off the game while doing this race. It’s also the last time I’m ever participating, because what’s the point?
“You prepare for five months to try to win this championship, you’re leading the championship, you’re trying to win this race that you’ve been preparing for two months, and they handle it like this.
“There have been two red flags, they cancelled the rain, because probably that’s already a big influence, and people are still getting disconnected, and at one point we were also hit by it, and they’re just not dealing with it, because they need even more people to disconnect.
“Honestly, it’s a joke. You cannot call this an event. [It’s] a clown show.
“It’s a disgrace for all the effort we have put in as a team. I really hope the organisers consider where they put this race going forward because on this platform it’s not going to work.
“It’s game over. I think I have more chance if I go to Vegas and go to the casino, I have more chance to win. I think I’m going to uninstall the game. That’s nice… frees up a bit of space on the PC anyway. And I really hope everyone uninstalls the game.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Verstappen continued his frustration on Discord where he wrote, “I’m going to write this once, it might get deleted but who cares? After five months of prep to fight for the title, around two months of prep for Les Mans, this what we get.
“This was a disgrace to the sim racing community and to all big brands and drivers involved. Big stutters all race, red flags due to [cyber] attacks you say, but then again people disconnecting some get their laps back, some don’t because of the stupid four car rule.
“How can you even rely on rules when you can’t even control your own s**t server? This is not the first time we do this. I have literally been disconnected three out of four times. You might think after the first or second time, you learn but this is just a disaster.”
